Record 209-mph wind gust whipped Northern California ... not so fast
By
Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb 10, 2020 9:27 PM EDT
A good deal of wind in Santa Cruz, California, toppled a massive tree on Feb. 9. It can't be seen in the video, but there was reportedly a crushed Tesla under the tree.
On a windy, wintry day, a wobbly chairlift can feel like the scariest place to be. And with potentially record-breaking wind gusts lashing the mountain, Kirkwood Ski Resort in Northern California near the Nevada border wasn't going to take a chance.
An unverified 209-mph wind gust was recorded shortly before 8 a.m. PST on Sunday by the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Reno. If the eye-popping reading is accurate, the gust would shatter the state record and rank third all-time among verified recorded wind speeds in the world and second-highest in the United States, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell.
"Due to strong and increasing winds across the mountain (gusts as high as 209 mph) Kirkwood will be CLOSING FOR THE DAY to ensure guest and employee safety," the mountain resort said on Facebook.
According to data recordings from NWS Reno, wind gusts in Kirkwood steadily whirled above 175 mph from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m., topping out at the 209-mph record with two other readings of 196 mph.
For context, a hurricane reaches Category 5 strength once wind speeds reach at least 157 mph. A tornado is classified as an EF5 once winds reach at 201 mph.
However, hours after the initial report emerged, the NWS office in Sacramento posted a message on Twitter saying that there may be reason to question the accuracy of the 209-mph reading.
"After further review, the 209 mph wind gust reported at Kirkwood seems less likely, as the station seems to have multiple errors including 92 percent relative humidity during the strong winds," the NWS Sacramento meteorologists said in the tweet. They added that wind speeds "seem to have been unusually strong the past few days at this station."
“At this point, we can't say with absolute certainty if the 209 mph gust did in fact happen, but there is enough evidence that an investigation will be done,” Dawn Johnson, senior meteorologist at the NWS in Reno, Nevada, told AccuWeather.
According to Johnson, the verification process for the wind report is likely to take several months.
"This morning was the first time anyone could even get up the mountain at Kirkwood and there is damage present,” Johnson said.
The terrain could contribute to funneling the flow during northeast winds, Johnson explained.
“The Sierra routinely will get winds 100-150 mph across the ridges during winter storms, and just we just saw a speed record of 199 mph confirmed February 2017 during an intense atmospheric river,” Johnson said.
Storm clouds gather over Santa Monica Bay off Manhattan Beach, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020. A gust of 209 mph was recorded by an instrument on Kirkwood Mountain south of Lake Tahoe. The National Weather Service it could take months for state climatologists to verify the record. The previous record was a gust of 199 mph at Ward Mountain west of Lake Tahoe in 2017. (AP Photo/John Antczak)
According to a master list of high wind speeds compiled by Ferrell, the only verified wind speed to top 209 mph in the United States was during the Winter Storm of 1934 when a gust of 231 mph was measured at Mount Washington in New Hampshire. That record took 65 years to be discovered and verified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The station that recorded Sunday's potential record is located at an elevation above 9,100 feet, according to Ferrell.
"These mountaintops do sometimes see extreme wind gusts," he said. "In February 2017, Ward Peak, California, set the state's wind record with a gust of 199 mph."
While the record could take the WMO years to verify, Ferrell said there's reason to trust the legitimacy of the numbers.
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However, Ferrell wasn't without skepticism at first. None of the typical red flags for such high recordings, such as one outlier sudden gust or gusts that are more than twice the sustained wind readings, were present throughout Sunday morning.
"Initially, I found a couple reasons that made me not believe it," he said. "For one thing, the station had just recorded a wind gust of 208 and 209 mph on Feb. 2, which did look odd because the sustained reading at the time was relatively low. The jet stream was also weak in the area at the time and sometimes mountaintops can achieve extreme readings if they hit higher winds near the jet stream."
Storm clouds gather over Santa Monica Bay off Manhattan Beach, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020. A gust of 209 mph was recorded by an instrument on Kirkwood Mountain south of Lake Tahoe. The National Weather Service it could take months for state climatologists to verify the record. The previous record was a gust of 199 mph at Ward Mountain west of Lake Tahoe in 2017. (AP Photo/John Antczak)
The presence of other markedly high readings in the general area on Sunday morning helped contextualize the Kirkwood 200-plus-mph recordings. According to Ferrell, two other stations atop Mammoth Mountain reported wind gusts of 145 and 151 mph.
"What we may be seeing is a station that is oddly situated with some sort of 'wind tunnel' effect caused by nearby peaks or manmade objects," Ferrell said. "It could cause artificially high wind gusts that might not be considered for records, but that's just conjecture."
The nearby Sierra-at-Tahoe Ski Resort also halted operations on Sunday morning due to the high winds.
Elsewhere, the heavy winds caused destruction to property in areas such as Santa Cruz. In a video filmed by a local resident, a massive tree was uprooted by the wind and took out a fence before landing on a Tesla. No one was hurt in the incident.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Severe Weather
Record 209-mph wind gust whipped Northern California ... not so fast
By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb 10, 2020 9:27 PM EDT
A good deal of wind in Santa Cruz, California, toppled a massive tree on Feb. 9. It can't be seen in the video, but there was reportedly a crushed Tesla under the tree.
On a windy, wintry day, a wobbly chairlift can feel like the scariest place to be. And with potentially record-breaking wind gusts lashing the mountain, Kirkwood Ski Resort in Northern California near the Nevada border wasn't going to take a chance.
An unverified 209-mph wind gust was recorded shortly before 8 a.m. PST on Sunday by the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Reno. If the eye-popping reading is accurate, the gust would shatter the state record and rank third all-time among verified recorded wind speeds in the world and second-highest in the United States, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Jesse Ferrell.
"Due to strong and increasing winds across the mountain (gusts as high as 209 mph) Kirkwood will be CLOSING FOR THE DAY to ensure guest and employee safety," the mountain resort said on Facebook.
According to data recordings from NWS Reno, wind gusts in Kirkwood steadily whirled above 175 mph from 6:30 a.m. to 8 a.m., topping out at the 209-mph record with two other readings of 196 mph.
For context, a hurricane reaches Category 5 strength once wind speeds reach at least 157 mph. A tornado is classified as an EF5 once winds reach at 201 mph.
However, hours after the initial report emerged, the NWS office in Sacramento posted a message on Twitter saying that there may be reason to question the accuracy of the 209-mph reading.
"After further review, the 209 mph wind gust reported at Kirkwood seems less likely, as the station seems to have multiple errors including 92 percent relative humidity during the strong winds," the NWS Sacramento meteorologists said in the tweet. They added that wind speeds "seem to have been unusually strong the past few days at this station."
“At this point, we can't say with absolute certainty if the 209 mph gust did in fact happen, but there is enough evidence that an investigation will be done,” Dawn Johnson, senior meteorologist at the NWS in Reno, Nevada, told AccuWeather.
According to Johnson, the verification process for the wind report is likely to take several months.
"This morning was the first time anyone could even get up the mountain at Kirkwood and there is damage present,” Johnson said.
The terrain could contribute to funneling the flow during northeast winds, Johnson explained.
“The Sierra routinely will get winds 100-150 mph across the ridges during winter storms, and just we just saw a speed record of 199 mph confirmed February 2017 during an intense atmospheric river,” Johnson said.
Storm clouds gather over Santa Monica Bay off Manhattan Beach, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020. A gust of 209 mph was recorded by an instrument on Kirkwood Mountain south of Lake Tahoe. The National Weather Service it could take months for state climatologists to verify the record. The previous record was a gust of 199 mph at Ward Mountain west of Lake Tahoe in 2017. (AP Photo/John Antczak)
According to a master list of high wind speeds compiled by Ferrell, the only verified wind speed to top 209 mph in the United States was during the Winter Storm of 1934 when a gust of 231 mph was measured at Mount Washington in New Hampshire. That record took 65 years to be discovered and verified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The station that recorded Sunday's potential record is located at an elevation above 9,100 feet, according to Ferrell.
"These mountaintops do sometimes see extreme wind gusts," he said. "In February 2017, Ward Peak, California, set the state's wind record with a gust of 199 mph."
While the record could take the WMO years to verify, Ferrell said there's reason to trust the legitimacy of the numbers.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
However, Ferrell wasn't without skepticism at first. None of the typical red flags for such high recordings, such as one outlier sudden gust or gusts that are more than twice the sustained wind readings, were present throughout Sunday morning.
"Initially, I found a couple reasons that made me not believe it," he said. "For one thing, the station had just recorded a wind gust of 208 and 209 mph on Feb. 2, which did look odd because the sustained reading at the time was relatively low. The jet stream was also weak in the area at the time and sometimes mountaintops can achieve extreme readings if they hit higher winds near the jet stream."
Storm clouds gather over Santa Monica Bay off Manhattan Beach, Calif., Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020. A gust of 209 mph was recorded by an instrument on Kirkwood Mountain south of Lake Tahoe. The National Weather Service it could take months for state climatologists to verify the record. The previous record was a gust of 199 mph at Ward Mountain west of Lake Tahoe in 2017. (AP Photo/John Antczak)
The presence of other markedly high readings in the general area on Sunday morning helped contextualize the Kirkwood 200-plus-mph recordings. According to Ferrell, two other stations atop Mammoth Mountain reported wind gusts of 145 and 151 mph.
"What we may be seeing is a station that is oddly situated with some sort of 'wind tunnel' effect caused by nearby peaks or manmade objects," Ferrell said. "It could cause artificially high wind gusts that might not be considered for records, but that's just conjecture."
The nearby Sierra-at-Tahoe Ski Resort also halted operations on Sunday morning due to the high winds.
Elsewhere, the heavy winds caused destruction to property in areas such as Santa Cruz. In a video filmed by a local resident, a massive tree was uprooted by the wind and took out a fence before landing on a Tesla. No one was hurt in the incident.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo